Five Women in Higher Education Who Have Received Prestigious Awards

Tanya Sudia, a professor and associate dean for research and scholarship at the Louise Herrington School of Nursing at Baylor University, received the Best Oral Presentation Award at the Sixth Annual Pan-Pacific Nursing Conference held in Hong Kong. Her winning presentation was entitled, “Ethical Considerations Amid Emerging Global Health Challenges.”

Dr. Sudia is a graduate of the University of Akron in Ohio. She holds a master’s degree in nursing and a Ph.D. in educational leadership from Emory University in Atlanta.

Esther Jacobson-Tepfer, professor emerita of Asian art at the University of Oregon, received the Kublai Kahn Gold Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. She was honored for her work to preserve rock art and other surface monuments.

Professor Jacobson-Tepfer is the co-author of Archaeology and Landscape in the Mongolian Altai: An Atlas (Esri Press, 2009). She holds a Ph.D. in Chinese art history from the University of Chicago.

Karina Maza, a certified medical interpreter at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, was named Interpreter of the Year by the International Medical Interpreters Association. Maza, a native of Venezuela, joined the staff at the university medical center in 2011.

Maza specializes in working with high-risk pregnancy patients in the Center for Women’s Health at the medical center.

Ann Swinker, associate professor of equine science at Pennsylvania State University, received that Van Ness Award from the American Horse Council. The award is presented to an individual who has shown leadership and service to the horse community. Before joining the faculty at Penn State, Dr. Swinker taught for 11 years at Colorado State University.

Dr. Swinker holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Pennsylvania State University. She earned a Ph.D. in agricultural sciences from West Virginia University.

Elizabeth M. Holloway, assistant dean of undergraduate education and director of the Women in Engineering Program at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, received the 2016 Founder Award from the Women in Engineering ProActive Network.

Dr. Holloway holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering and a Ph.D. in engineering education, all from Purdue University.